Newark liquor store manager, clerk arrested for drug trafficking

By Staff Reporter

Newark:  The manager of a liquor store in the North Ward and a sales clerk have been arrested on drug charges after the discovery of heroin stamped “JUSTICE FOR ALL” in the business on January 16.

According to the Essex County Sheriff’s Office, Nileshkumar Patel, manager of Hometown Liquor Store on 7th Avenue, was arrested along with the clerk.

Patel, 40, of Jersey City, and Cardona, 49, were being held at the Essex County Jail in lieu of bonds of $40,000 each.

Sheriff’s detectives responding to complaints of drug trafficking in the neighborhood around the store spotted a woman enter the liquor store, reach into her waistband and drop four envelopes of heroin on the floor, Sheriff Armando Fontoura said.

The sheriff’s detectives found 38 envelopes of heroin in a counter-drawer and 335 grams of marijuana, along with drug paraphernalia, in a storeroom. The total street value of the drugs is $4,000.

Tiffany Antonetty, 23, of Newark, was issued a summons for possession of a controlled dangerous substance.